Fuzzy Brown

2010 Velvetone

Sweet tooth baby bear longing for some honey
Plodding through the woods peeping up the boring old trees
Climbing up a birch tree grabbing at the beehive
Tearing down the whole branch steppin’ on the late king bee
Slightly overweight
Mostly well-behaved
By all means a problem bear

Grown-up Fuzzy bear wading in the water
Staring at the crawfish waiting for a big fat trout
Slipping on a wet stone juggling not to fall
Crashin’ in a beaver dam another Fuzzy big black out
Slightly overweight
Mostly well-behaved
By all means a problem bear

Grey-haired senior bear no pockets for no money
Tempted by a sweet smell heading for a general store
Breaking through the window belly gettin’ stuck
His new suit’s fittin’ tight trouble he will make no more
Slightly overweight
Mostly well-behaved
By all means a problem bear

Bearfootin‘

Everybody git on your feet,
You make me nervous when you in your seat
Take off your shoes and pat your feet,
We’re doin a dance that can’t be beat

We bearfootin‘, We bearfootin‘,
We bearfootin‘, We bearfootin‘,

Went to a party the other night,
Boss of bears was out of sight
Threw way his wig and his sneakers too
He was doin a dance without any shoes

He was bearfootin‘, He was bearfootin‘,
He was bearfootin‘, He was bearfootin‘,

Hey big ole man with your long hair down
I bet you can bearfoot all night long
Take off your shoes and throw ‚em away,
Come back and get ‚em another day

We bearfootin‘, We bearfootin‘,
We bearfootin‘, We bearfootin‘,

Boss of bears he told his crew
If I’s bearfoot would you bearfoot too
Crew told boss,we’ll stir your stew
We was barefootin ever since we was two

They was bearfootin‘, they was bearfootin‘
They was bearfootin‘, We bearfootin‘
we bearfootin‘ We bearfootin‘
aahhaa
We bearfootin‘ we bearfootin‘
We bearfootin‘ we all have no shoes on
We bearfootin‘ We bearfootin‘

I’ve never known a more sincere group of guys than the members of Velvetone. They are what we call down home types. Pals, buddies, the kind of guys you can hang out with, shoot a game of pool with or just share a beer. The music? No nonsense Rock’n’Roll. Tuff sensual grooves, rumbling bass, big drum beat, twangin‘ edgy guitar with a vocal that can change the mood from a cry to a scream to a soft melancholy whisper. It’s a good vibe. ‚On The Waterfront‘ meets ‚Dirty Harry‘ down the dead end of a lonely street to ‚Thunder road‘ is where the album takes me. Bogart sittin‘ in a smokey bar with John Wayne romancing Patsy Cline in Elvira’s Negligé. The mixture of influences on this record are like a brilliant concoction of your favorite whiskeys and gins with a tequila chaser that puts fire in your soul, thunder in your blood stream and a menacing grin on your kisser. Lights me up man and sends me out under thick black clouds chasing lost purple skies howlin‘ at the moon. That’s what Velvetone is. Now I’m in a mood.

The first time I saw Velvetone was in November ’95 in Bremen, Germany, which is a long way from my home in California. I kept thinkin‘ to myself „man, do I know these guys?“
An old familiar feeling was pulsing through my veins as their band was layin‘ it down to stay. Yeah, I’ll tell you what it was: it brought me back to the days in ’81, when the Paladins were first takin‘ the road from San Diego out to Phoenix, AZ. It was there we found a vivacious scene of about a dozen or so Rockabilly/Rock’n’Roll bands that resembled a camp of banditos more than the down rite hot players that they were – groups like The Geezers, Colin Winsky, The Varmints and Hellfire.
Velvetone should have been there!
Playin‘ clubs like The Mason Jar, Merlins and The Sun Club, all us bands would turn these trashy little Honky Tonks into a Rock’n’Roll riot. We sang about Cadillacs and owned them too. We’d park ‚em in front of the club, all in a line.
Velvetone would’ve had theirs out there.
The clubs would shut down at 1:00 am, but that didn’t mean the jam was over. We’d all head over to The Hell House and jam till dawn, or till it got over 105°F, which ever came first.
I swear I saw Velvetone there.
One afternoon we were cleaning up after one of those nights. We found so many bottles and cans that we cashed ‚em in and bought a keg of beer and some ice, put it in a shoppping cart, took our acoustics and rambled through the town, singin‘ and playin‘ and quenchin‘ the thirst of a massive crowd on that day in 115°F heat …
Yeah, but that night in Bremen last November… It was snowin‘ outdoors, but I was breakin‘ into a mighty sweat watchin‘ Velvetone bring on that old Rock’n’Roll feeling.